REPORT OF THE SEMINAR

 Project Overview

The project FOLLOW YOUR IDEAS prepared by the NGO YOUNG LEADERS FOR EUROPE related to the
programmes EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE and EUROPEAN YOUTH CAPITAL focuses on
unexploited potential of young people caused by undeveloped international cooperation. The
project is to find out how to empower young people within the programmes European Capital of
Culture and European Youth Capital and develop their potential which can support the creative
economy of the cities. The needs resulted in meeting of representatives of 9 different European
capitals of culture and youth in Košice (Slovakia) from 28th February to 4th March 2011. By defining
common needs, the representatives of organizations will work on establishing mutual cooperation
and sharing ideas of projects which would be the first example of opportunity how to develop
potential of young people by means of international cooperation and sharing of experience.
Moreover the project aims to create long-term and sustainable partnership between participating
organizations from Marseille (France, ECOC 2013), Maribor (Slovenia, ECOC 2012 & EYC 2013), Turku
(Finland, ECOC 2011), Tallinn (Estonia, ECOC 2011) Vilnius (Lithuania, ECOC 2009), Istanbul (Turkey,
ECOC 2010), Braga and Guimarães (Portugal, EYC 2012 & ECOC 2012), Turin (Italy, EYC 2010) and
Košice (Slovakia, ECOC 2013) which is expected to lead to the common platform connecting
organizations working with young people from the capitals of culture and/or youth. Within the
network the future projects aiming at strengthening youth participation and developing their skills
will be implemented. Therefore, the project is the first step for strengthening youth organisational
sustainable cooperation within ECOC/EYC cities.

 Planned Activities
An activity of the project was supposed to be implemented in Košice from 28 th February till 4th
March 2011. The programme of the activity has been designed for target group consisting of the
representatives of organizations working with young people involved in the project European Capital
of Culture/European Youth Capital. It includes people working in the field of youth work, culture
and art, creativity and entrepreneurship.
The activity combines a form of partnership-building activity and seminar and therefore it becomes
unique in its character. It is based on methods of methods and techniques of non-formal learning.
The first assumption which is inevitable for fulfilling the project objectives was to share experience
from their organizations and their national projects of the ECOC/EYC. We want the participants to
focus on strengths and weaknesses of their national projects and involvement of youth in the

1
projects. Consequently a basis for future partnership must be built by defining common needs.
However before analyzing needs, it is necessary to seek a role of youth within the programmes
ECOC/EYC and inquire how valuable is potential of young people and why is it necessary to develop
it. At that moment some of needs are emerging, such as active involvement of young people and
their empowerment within the programmes ECOC/EYC. Apart from these needs, it is necessary to
point out how to empower young people and develop their skills by international cooperation.
After this part of the seminar, one of the most important parts focusing on ideas of the participants
for future cooperation is followed. A technique, open space for project development, provides a
possibility to work on discovering ideas, consequent dreaming, designing and planning.
The seminar ends in an evaluation and self-assessment of participants. Participants will be also
informed about opportunities of project funding through European grant programmes, especially the
programme Youth in Action (2007-2013), but the programme Culture (2007-2013) as well.
The entire outputs of the seminar (ideas for future cooperation, particular project frameworks,
etc.) will reflect its usefulness and built partnership. The outputs should support sustainability and
gradual transformation of youth involvement within the programmes ECOC/EYC.

In addition to working on official programme, the organizer provides an additional programme

related to the theme of the seminar which is a presentation of the project Košice 2013 INTERFACE
presented by the organization Košice 2013, n.o. Participants will also have a chance to join the
guided tour of the city centre of Košice.

The planned programme with its sessions

2
 Implemented Activities

According to the planned programme, the facilitators were trying to fulfil the project objectives
and help participants to reach their final destination which should reflect built partnership.

The programme started as it had been planned before on the 1 st day of the seminar, however the
confusedness of participants was caused by presentations of organizations and national projects
which took the whole day. Despite of that fact, we consider the presentations to be an essential
assumption for future sharing experiences as the presentations compared various aspects of
different ECOC/EYC projects what resulted in awareness of strengths and weaknesses of the
projects. Although we did not fulfil the whole programme for the 1 st day, the needs of participants
said that they must express themselves sufficiently if they want to build up something on a common
basis. The second day continued with the sessions related to the involvement of youth within the
programmes ECOC/EYC and creativity which is regarded as an engine for innovation. If potential of
young people has to be fully used, young people must be empowered and their ideas must be fully
accepted as they have an unexploited potential to be creative. The day continued with common
needs assessment which was supposed to lead to defining common needs and need of international
cooperation. However the process turned into discussions mostly about the recent situation of young
people and their position in society. The topic was relevant to the theme of involvement of young
people and their active participation but irrelevant to gradual continuation of needs assessment. On
the 3rd day the facilitators had to adjust a planned programme to the needs of the group which was
active and fully involved into activities. Participants started to work on their own ideas for future
cooperation. After the presentation of all the ideas, the participants worked in the groups on the
ideas which had been considered the most interesting for analyzing. Their work resulted in 18
project ideas and 3 particular project frameworks with already defined aims, objectives, target
group and partners. Further information is described in the part Follow-Up.

Despite of the fact that the process of the planned programme had to be adapted to the needs of
group and its dynamics, the outputs of the project reflect that partnership has been successfully
built and preparation on the follow-up activities will come soon.

Participants evaluated the programme positively by oral evaluation. The questionnaire and
reactionaries say that participants are enough motivated for future cooperation and they are still
interested in sharing ideas and working on them. However some elements of the programme process
were misunderstood and criticized, owing to the inflexible adjustment of the facilitators.

The additional programme in Kasárne/Kulturpark, a presentation of the project Košice 2013

INTERFACE, was implemented and explained the project Košice 2013 for participants. After the
presentation, participants were curious about sustainability of the project and long-term
transformation of the city. The participants as legal representatives of participating organizations

3
 expected considerably more concrete information and official welcome of people directly
responsible for implementing the project Košice 2013.

 Partnership

▫ Organizer & Representative of Košice 2013 – NGO Young Leaders for Europe (Košice, Slovakia)

▫ Representative of Marseille-Provence (France, ECOC 2013) – ADCEI – Association pour le

Développement Culturel Européen et International
▫ Representative of Vilnius (ECOC, 2006) - Lithuania Minor Jurbarkas regional culture centre and
Visiginas Youth Union
▫ Representative of Istanbul (ECOC, 2010) – UN Turkey – Youth Section
▫ Representative of Turku (ECOC, 2011) – Turku City Hall – Youth Department
▫ Representative of Tallinn (ECOC, 2011) - Tallinn 2011 Kultuurikatel Creative Industries Development
Center
▫ Representative of Maribor (ECOC, 2012 & EYC, 2013) – EpeKa – Cultural organization and Peter
Dobrila (author of the Maribor 2012 concept)
▫ Representative of Guimaraes (ECOC, 2012) and Braga (EYC, 2012) – RUM – Radio Universitária de
Minho, Audiencia ZERO and FEST
▫ Representative of Turin (EYC, 2010) – Associazione EUfemia and Torino City Hall – Youth Department

▫ Follow-up

Participants proposed 18 project ideas which could strengthen future cooperation and partnership
and empower young people within the ECOC/EYC cities.

The whole list of the project ideas is attached.

During the project activity, participants had a chance to work on ideas which were regarded as the
most interesting and important for them. Three different project proposals were analyzed and
participants were able to define aims, objectives, target group and sharing of responsibilities among
partners.

4
 Project frameworks:

▫ A network

As a result of this project, it has been expecting to create a platform for organisations from the
ECOC/EYC cities which aims to empower young people within the programmes ECOC/EYC and
strengthen cooperation at the level of organizations.

Aims: to strengthen youth organisational sustainable cooperation within the ECOC/EYC cities and to
promote youth participation and empowerment,

Target group: organizations working with/for young people from the ECOC/EYC cities,

Following steps: preparation of the project of networking through the programme Youth in Action
(NGO Young Leaders for Europe in charge of this task),

Impact: The network can fill in an empty gap caused by undeveloped international cooperation
between ECOC/EYC cities. It causes that the potential of the particular ECOC/EYC project is
decreasing and potential of young people as well. The network will be based on mutual sharing of
experience and know-how in the field of empowerment young people within the ECOC/EYC cities.
Therefore, it will be impacting on youth organisational cooperation, youth participation and
involvement in the programmes ECOC/EYC.

▫ A youth exchange

According to the ideas of participants and their needs for sharing experiences of young people in the
field of art and culture at the European level, one of the proposals is a youth exchange which is an
opportunity for young artists to share experience, express themselves at the European level and
empower them within the programmes ECOC/EYC.

Aims: to support intercultural dialogue, to ignite generation of new creative ideas leading to
innovation and strengthening of entrepreneurship competencies of young people within the
ECOC/EYC, to express to provide young people a possibility to express themselves abroad

Target group: young people/artists from the ECOC/EYC

Hosting country: France, Slovakia (division into two youth exchange or creating an itinerant project
when the activity will take place in two different countries),

Date: summer 2012/2013

Following steps: overall defining of project aims and objectives, starting communication so as the
project could reflect the needs of community

5
 Impact: The exchange creates a new opportunity to share experience and knowledge of young
people from different backgrounds and countries, and therefore it will ignite generation of new
ideas leading to innovation. The participants will have a chance to present their work, express
themselves and develop their entrepreneurship and social competencies and their experience in the
field of art and culture.

▫ A network –SELF LAB - Create your own ideas

One of the needs expressed on the project activity was to empower young people and support youth
in the field of creativity as their ideas are fully accepted and therefore their potential is becoming
unexploited. The need resulted in the proposal to create a network for supporting the creative
phase of the innovation process and youth competencies at the European level.

Aims: to support the creative phase of the innovation process and youth competencies, to support
social innovation, to develop potential of young people in order to support their creativity

Target group: idea-makers, students, researchers, unemployed skilful youngsters, young people
working in IT sector, target group focused on young people 18-35

Partners: Kultuurikatel (Tallinn 2011, responsible organization), Audiencia ZERO (Portugal) + more 6
partners for creating a network

Responsible organization: Kultuurikatel – managing the webpoint, promoting 1 st contact-making

seminar and coordinator the process

Following steps: overall defining of project aims and objectives, finding partner organizations and
preparing a plan for developing future cooperation and creating a network

Impact: The network is impacting on developing the potential of young creative people and
entrepreneurs

6
 Achievements

▫ Achievements related to the objectives and the priorities of the Youth in Action Programme

The project Follow Your Ideas has a strong relevance to the general objectives of the programme
Youth in Action as it promotes European cooperation in the youth field by sharing experience and
establishing new cooperation which should lead to long-term and sustainable network. The project
also contributes to developing the quality of support systems for youth activities and the
capabilities of civil society organisations in the youth field owing to the main project objectives
related to empowerment of young people and their active involvement by supporting their creative
ideas and activities. The intercultural background of the project with participants from 12 different
countries reflects that the project fosters mutual understanding between young people in different
countries.

▫ Achievements related to the objectives of the project

The programme of the activity was designed in order to fulfil the project objectives, especially to
establish future cooperation and partnership. The evaluation says that most of the participants’
expectations have been fulfilled and their biggest challenge, a partnership-building, has turned
successfully into reality. Achievement of the objectives can be rated according to the entire
satisfaction of participants and outputs of the project. Outputs of the project which are consisted
of 3 project frameworks also indicate fulfilling of the project objectives. A planned network which
is one of 3 mentioned projects is a reflection of effectual project.

▫ Achievements related to the objectives of the programme European Capital of Culture

The programme European Capital of Culture is considered a major opportunity to change vision of
cities, or create a new one and put them on the European map. If an implementation of the project
ECOC in particular cities are to bring a new city transformation and long-term sustainability, young
people as an engine of ideas for future development can’t be excluded. Our project has been the
first one in the European Union related to the involvement of youth within the ECOC programme. It
brought together representatives of various organizations working with young people and involved in
the ECOC in their cities and created a dialogue about a role of young people in the process of
implementing ECOC project. Moreover, outputs of the project are impacting on overall increasing of
youth involvement within the programme as we intend to create a network for empowering young
people and supporting organizational cooperation within the ECOC/EYC. Other outputs reflect
opportunities of development and social innovativeness of young people by sharing experience
which will lead to enrichment of local community involved into the field of their work and
increasing of long-term sustainability of the ECOC project as it will considerably support
development of creative economy of the city.

7
▫ Achievements related to the objectives of the programme European Youth Capital

Basically the programme European Youth Capital doesn’t aim to create a one year festival for young
people. However the EYC initiative encourages the implementation of new ideas and innovative
projects with regard to active participation of young people in society. The initiative aims at
empowering youth within a society, particularly in the city. The project ‘Follow your ideas’ seeks
out how to develop potential of young people what might result in their empowering. The project
connects the programmes European Capital of Culture and European Youth Capital as a connecting
point for both is to empower young people within the programmes so as the programmes will use
their full potential in creativity and entrepreneurship which will lead to increasing of sustainability.

 Contact
If you require further information about the project, please contact:

Anton Spišák
Project Manager, NGO Young Leaders for Europe, Košice, Slovakia
Tel.: 00421 (0)907 376 657
E-mail: anton.spisak@infobcan.eu

or

Dymytryna Kožejová
Communication Manager, NGO Young Leaders for Europe, Košice, Slovakia
Tel.: 00421 (0)918 147 683
E-mail: ecoc@infobcan.eu